Thursday, April 27, 2017

FNC's Jesse Watters On Vacation After Ivanka Comment

Fox News’ Jesse Watters has announced a two-day vacation from the network on Wednesday night, just a day after coming under fire for a controversial remark The Five co-host made about Ivanka Trump.

According to philly.com, Watters told viewers of The Five that he would be back on the show on Monday. He joined The Five fulltime for the show’s new 9 p.m. time slot this week.

Watters’ announcement comes following a comment critics interpreted as a dirty joke about Ivanka Trump that the host made Tuesday night. The Five was in the midst of a segment about how Ivanka was audibly booed at a women’s economic conference in Germany.

“It’s funny, the left says they really respect women, and then when given an opportunity to respect a woman like that, they boo and hiss,” Watters said. “So, I don’t really get what’s going on here, but I really liked how she was speaking into that microphone.”

WATCH: Jesse Watters on Fox News re Ivanka Trump: "I really like how she was speaking into that microphone" pic.twitter.com/HoJHLpMtq1

Watters denied critics’ accusations that his comment about Ivanka was sexual in nature, saying in a statement that he and his fellow co-hosts were “commenting on Ivanka’s voice and how it was low and steady and resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ.” He also made a similar statement on Twitter:

On air I was referring to Ivanka's voice and how it resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ. This was in no way a joke about anything else.

Watters joined Fox News in 2002 as a production assistant. In 2003, he made his on-camera debut as an O’Reilly Factor correspondent, where he became known for his man-on-the-street interviews on the "Watters' World" show segment.

This controversy is the latest for Watters, who last year was accused of racism after producing a segment filmed in New York City’s Chinatown in which he asked Asian people if they knew karate, as well as if they knew if it was “the year of the dragon.”